Martin (second from right) with Karunanidhi (seated) at the audio launch of Ilaignan

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's 75th film as scriptwriter, Ilaignan, got him Rs 45 lakh - the highest-ever fee he had taken. All thanks to Santiago Martin, or "lottery king" as he is better known, who revived the movie, which was lying in limbo for over three years. Martin's venture S. Martin Productions spent around Rs 50 crore on the movie.

Now, Karunanidhi is supposedly writing the script for Martin's next movie Ponnar Sankar. In return, the chief minister allows him to run his illegal lottery business without any hitch, say cinema veterans.

"He earns around Rs 8 crore through illegal sale of lottery in Tamil Nadu every day," says V.G. Balaji of Salem, who had filed a case against Martin in the Madras High Court. Even though lottery has been banned in most of the states, the total illegal sale across the country every year is said to be over Rs 7,200 crore. Martin's business is now widespread and the lotteries are transported from Kolkata to various parts of India, adds Balaji.

With over 300 people working in Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd, Martin's main business units include Best and Co, which deals in paper lottery; online lotteries Smartwin and Meggawin; and InLott E-Gaming Services Ltd, which manages the Internet lottery. In 2003, Martin's lottery business, worth Rs 14,215 crore, got hit when the AIADMK regime banned lottery sale. Smartwin was the online lottery operator for the Sikkim government in Kerala. But in 2005, the Kerala government banned online lotteries and he switched to paper lotteries of Sikkim and Bhutan.

Another controversy broke out when Tamil Nadu's advocate general P.S. Raman appeared for Martin in a case in Kerala. The Tamil Nadu Government clarified that Raman appeared in his capacity as a senior counsel. But after the Kerala Government sent a letter to Karunanidhi, he asked Raman to step down. "In Kerala alone, lottery sale is fetching him Rs 6 crore every day," says Balaji. Martin's business interests in Coimbatore include a textile showroom in his wife Leema's name, a nursing college, and recently floated property firm Martin Promoters. If sources are to be believed, he has floated more than 300 companies in the last 10 years.

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